Dear Just Ask Judy:

As a job seeker, how can I help my recruiter to make the best placement for me?

… Job Seeker in Florida 

Dear Job Seeker:

There are a lot of career coaching service providers available to help find the right job for you.  A career coach helps you understand your best skills and how to present yourself in the job market. To sort all this out I called Margaret Phares, Executive Director of the Professional Association of Resume Writers & Career Coaches (PARWCC), a premier coaching association. Margaret was kind enough to share her ideas with me.

Committing to working with a career coach can be a good investment no matter what stage of your professional life you are in. You could be just starting your career and don’t know how to best state your skills if you have little work experience. Or you could be looking to start a new career after working in one area and are ready to make a change. There are career coaches available to help evaluate your strengths and work with you to make the right decisions. 90,000 hours is the average number of hours a person will work in their lifetime, a little over thirteen years!  Make sure you help your recruiter know what will make you happy and therefore be the best fit for you.

This relationship should be a partnership. You will work together to understand your goals, clarify your needs, and know how to present yourself to the marketplace. If you are struggling to understand “what you want to be when you grow up,” it is worth your time and money to work with a career coach. A recruiter can match you with a company that is looking for someone with your special qualifications but only you know what will satisfy your sense of purpose and create positive self-esteem.

A career coach can help identify individual strengths, create career goals, and develop a strategy to accomplish these goals.  In a post covid world, people are re-evaluating their work life balance. Knowing if only working remotely is the best fit for you, you need to make that known. Time commitments to childcare or elder care make a difference in your job search. Many companies are going to a hybrid work schedule or a return-to-work policy.  It is important to talk to your career coach and recruiter about work schedules early in the job seeking process. Everyone’s goal is to have a successful job search within a timely fashion. It will help save time and money to acknowledge work parameters and limitations.

We appreciate Margaret taking her time to discuss these issues with us. She commented that at PARWCC, there is a “Find a Professional” feature on their landing page. The orange button can be used to check that the career coach you are considering working with holds the recommended membership or certification. If you would like further details or information on PARWCC, feel free to contact Margaret at mphares@parwcc.com or visit the PARWCC website at http://parwcc.com/.